COVER LETTER

This is Manas Pandey from Chanakya National Law University, Patna pursuing B.A. LL.B. (Hons.). I am elated to submit the abstract for my research paper titled Whistleblower Protection- The Dire Need Of A Legislation in India. I am hopeful of a positive response.

NAME OF THE AUTHOR S: MANAS PANDEY DESIGNATION : 2ND YEAR, B.A. LL.B. (HONS.) AFFILIATION : CHANAKYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY, PATNA EMAIL ID : manas_pndy@yahoo.com MOBILE NO. : +91 8051756583

Whistleblower Protection : The Dire Need Of A Legislation In India

The disclosure by a person, usually an employee in a government agency or private enterprise, to the public or to those in authority, of mismanagement, corruption, illegality, or some other wrongdoing is called whisteblowing and the person disclosing is known as the whistleblower. It was less than a year back on November 19th, Manjunath Shanmugam, an IIM graduate gave his life to the country while trying to expose the corruption in petroleum marketing. For a month or so, his heroic efforts to expose corruption caught the attention of the nation. The Government of India has been considering adopting a whistleblower protection law for several years. In 2003, the Law Commission of India recommended the adoption of the Public Interest Disclosure (Protection of Informers) Act, 2002. In August 2010, the Public Interest Disclosure and Protection of Persons Making the Disclosures Bill, 2010 was introduced into the Lok Sabha, lower house of the Parliament of India. The Bill was approved by the cabinet in June, 2011. The Public Interest Disclosure and Protection of Persons Making the Disclosures Bill, 2010 was renamed as The Whistleblowers' Protection Bill, 2011 by the Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice. The Whistleblowers' Protection Bill, 2011 was passed by the Lok Sabha on 28 December 2011. The Bill is however currently pending in the upper house of Parliament, Rajya Sabha for discussion and further passage. The Bill was introduced in Rajya Sabha on 29 March 2012 by V. Narayanasamy, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs. However in the dearth of a legislation the whistleblowers suffer from threats to life and fear of the people in power. The current proposed bill is expected to solve this problem to a great extent but it has its own shortcoming. This has instigated the researcher to put forth these shortcomings and the dire need of an adequate legislation in India. The research paper will has been broadly divided into 5 categories. Firstly, The Concept of Whistleblower this section will deal with who a whistleblower is, and how they check the despotic powers and corruption of the bureaucrats in India along with the background of whistleblowers in India.

Secondly, The Current Scenario this section will deal with the problems faced by whistleblowers in India due to the dearth of a proper legislation with various examples and illustrations. Thirdly, The Whistleblower Protection Bill: A Critique, this section will deal with a critical analysis of the proposed Whistleblower Protection Bill. Lastly, Conclusion, this section deals with the views and suggestion of by the author on the issue in question along with a conclusive analysis of the topic.